


Imagine Dating A Math Major

by keepquietplease



Series: Sanders Sides Stories [22]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: A lot of people like dukexiety, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, Closeted Character, He drags everyone into it, He still uses he/him pronouns, I also wanted an excuse to let Virgil wear a skirt so this fic is it, I'm HERE FOR IT, Implied Sexual Content, It is my belief that Remus can and will pick up and carry Virgil around, No Smut, Non-Binary Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Non-Binary Author, Other, Remus is a dumb gay fuck who wants to impress his crush, So much projecting into this y'all don't even know, Virgil knows they're already dating but Remus is a fucking dumbass, at all, cursing, remus is remus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:27:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26086435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keepquietplease/pseuds/keepquietplease
Summary: Remus didn't like math.  He did like Virgil.He wanted Virgil to ask him out.  He needed to know math for that to happen.It was all so terribly coincidental.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Creativity | Roman Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: Sanders Sides Stories [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1837975
Comments: 17
Kudos: 148





	Imagine Dating A Math Major

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> Mini author fact: I'm a mathematics major so I can make fun of my major. I'm not a physics major, so I can get that wrong.
> 
> Also, I do believe in platonically making out with your bro if you both are chill. It's very uncommon, but I was one of my friend's first kiss because we're close. I have made plans to kiss another friend to play with her piercings. Kiss your friends.

Remus met Virgil in pride club. Virgil was standoffish and nervous, keeping mostly to himself. Remus, there with his brother and friends, couldn't really tear his eyes away from the person standing in the corner. Remus knew then and there that he wasn't going to keep up the bet he had with Roman about which one of them was going to have the most sexual partners throughout their first year. Remus wanted one person, and it was Virgil. He tried his usual flirting, but Virgil was oblivious. He didn't have time for relationships with all the work he had to do. He was a math major. Maybe he didn't notice Remus' flirting, or maybe he did but didn't say anything. Roman had about three partners by the end of his first year, and they remained together. Remus had no luck with Virgil, but he sometimes got Virgil to come to movie nights. Then, after two semesters, Remus begged Roman to not request him as a roommate again. He convinced Virgil to be his roommate, and they needed to have their own room so Remus could continue to charm him.

Virgil was currently pressed against Remus' side. It was their second year. Remus was a ceramics major. He just got back from the studio where he was working on a project, running into Virgil walking out of the science building. They decided to walk back to their dorm together. Technically speaking, at the moment, Remus did have Virgil in his bed, just not in the way he wanted. Virgil was doing work for his physics class, mumbling to himself about the different equations of finding vectors. It was very cute, but it was also very confusing. Remus didn't know what he was saying. Virgil let out a small groan as he furiously scribbled over part of his equation.

"You know you could just erase it, right? You don't have to scribble." Remus ran a hand over his side, trying to soothe him. 

"Ugly equations deserve to be suffocated." Virgil hissed, starting over. "I just don't get the whole thing about taking fucking physics. I'm not a science person. I don't know why it's required to take this and computer science to graduate. I get there's math in it, and I may want to focus on that kind of mathematics, but no. I want to do other shit. I want to focus on my math classes. I have a test with multivariable in two weeks, but no, this test is on Monday. Fucking hate my major requirements. Fucking hate everything."

"Want to explain the problem to me? I almost failed physics in high school, so this may be educational for me."

"Okay, uh, alright. So, this one is asking about conducting spheres and the force. You have the first and second one that have an equal charge--or, they can carry an equal charge. Sorry. Got to get that right. They're separated by a force in between them. There's a third sphere, which has no charge. It's connected to A first, then B, then it's removed. As a result, what is the force between A and B? I don't fucking know!"

"Start with an easier one."

"Okay, if a person with a mass of seventy two kilograms was to fall onto a trampoline from seven meters up, starting at the velocity of three meters per second, and they traveled upwards after landing at one meter per second, and this all took about ten seconds, what is the force. So first we have to do the whole equation of finding momentum. That's just mass times delta v. Then we have to divide by delta t to get the force. So one hundred forty four divided by ten, right?"

"Virgil, I have not been paying attention at all. I'm going to say yes."

"Remus, why would you tell me to explain if you aren't going to help me?"

"Look, I'm sure there are people in my department who know math and science, but I am not one of them. That sounds right. You lost me at delta. Isn't that a Greek letter or something?"

"It means the difference."

"You sound pretty prepared. I don't know."

"I literally couldn't do one of the questions--ah!" Virgil yelped as Remus moved him onto his lap. "Remus!"

"Then keep working. I'm just getting comfortable." Remus buried his face in Virgil's neck, softly breathing in. He loved this, and Virgil wasn't demanding to be let go, so he assumed it was okay. "Keep working on your studying."

"I think the answer is fourteen point four newtons. That seems right. I'm pretending it's right."

Remus smiled, listening to him continue to mumble about his textbook questions. It was nice. He enjoyed this more than he thought he would. Yeah, he fucking pined over Virgil all the time, but he had a good relationship where they'd cuddle and be affectionate at times. They didn't use separate beds often. One was the working bed and the other was the sleeping bed. They were practically dating. They just didn't go on dates. They've kissed, and they've gone to get coffee together, but Remus was pretty sure they weren't dating because Virgil never asked him out. It was just platonic make out sessions and platonically saying you love someone. Platonic planning on getting married and owning two dogs in the future. Platonic stuff.

"Remus, you know what's great about math?" Virgil's voice made Remus look up, cocking his head. "It's the fact that there is always a solution. Even if the solution is that it doesn't exist. There's always an answer. It gives me comfort. Sure, there are things that haven't been proven yet, but there's always an answer. I feel like you could go your whole life researching other topics. You could put hours into history and literature and fine arts, but you will always be making educated assumptions about the reasoning behind things. I just think that it's simple with math. There's always a formula. There will always be an equation."

"Do you need to talk about something? Something wrong?"

"No, that's what therapy's for. It's just why I got into math. It made life easier. I could find solutions in here even when I couldn't in real life."

Remus rubbed his thigh, nodding. "That sounds comforting."

Virgil nodded before scratching something off the page he was writing on. Remus carefully pulled his phone out of his pocket, sending a quick text to their little group chat. Asking when the others were having dinner. Roman said in twenty minutes. Virgil was still invested in his work by then, so Remus picked him up koala style. Virgil had his textbook behind Remus' neck, reading it as Remus made his way across campus to their dining hall. He held Virgil up with on arm as he took Virgil's card to give to the workers before reaching in his pocket for his own. They've done this routine quite often. Remus learned to get both their food on one plate and just feed Virgil as he studied. He got himself fish that he put ranch and seaweed salad on before getting Virgil chicken fingers and cucumbers. He saw Roman, Logan, Janus, and Patton sitting near the back windows. He walked over, putting his plate down. He maneuvered Virgil so he could place him in a chair. "Coffee?"

Virgil nodded, not stopping. Remus ruffled his hair before going to get drinks, followed quickly by Logan.

"Hey nerd." Remus said, first getting himself a mixture of six kinds of soda and exactly one ice cube. "Hey, you know math, right?"

"I'm a zoology major. I am no where near math unless it's in science." Logan responded, getting himself water.

"Okay, but you know math! So, listen, I did some research into some theorems. Like, uh, statistical analysis and shit. Basic stuff, but I tried. I did a lot of research into probability and how to figure out if things are irrational using equations--"

"You're describing mathematical concepts, yes?"

"Yeah!"

"Virgil is passed that stage. He doesn't need to know hamlet happens or anything about independent variables versus dependent. He knows that. You need to study vectors and matrices. That's what he's studying now. He's in physics, yes? Study the laws and theorems required to learn the course."

Remus nodded, getting Virgil a latte from the little coffee machine their school bought. "Alright!"

"Remus, listen, he likes you. I think you can just not study, and it would be fine. Just be there to support him when he needs you. Yes, if he has a difficult test coming up, offer to help him study, but know that all you would have to do is be there for him."

Remus didn't answer that. Yes, he was well aware of that, but it didn't feel like enough. He wanted to be able to help Virgil with topics he didn't get. He wanted to impress Virgil. He was pretty sure the small trinkets he made weren't enough. He just wanted to make Virgil proud of him. He smiled at the thought before walking back with Logan, placing the mug in front of Virgil before starting to eat.

"Remus! We were just talking about you!" Patton gushed, a big smile on his face. "I saw your piece in the art show! It was so pretty!"

"Thanks Pat." Remus held a cucumber up to Virgil's mouth, slowly feeding him as he worked. "How's your short story coming along?"

Patton whined before biting into a cookie to avoid talking about it. He wanted to be a children's author, but assignments didn't care about that. His professor wanted more serious work from him, which Patton hated. Roman rubbed his back, a sympathetic smile gracing his face as his boyfriend began to eat his feelings. Janus flicked Remus, snickering a bit as he dropped the cucumber on Virgil's lap from surprise.

"We're watching some horror movie tonight. Care to join us?" Janus asked, glancing at Virgil. "I suppose he can join as well."

"Whose room are we using?"

"We're driving to Patton's house. Might as well use the commuter's house. He has more space where we can sit to watch the movie." Janus was leaning against Roman now, a small smirk on his face. "Plus, his family has a guest room for you two. We'll be staying in Patton's room, of course."

"Virgil?" Remus poked his roommate's shoulder. No response. He held up a chicken finger, putting it near Virgil's lips before moving it a bit away from his mouth so he had to look up. "Want to have a sleepover at Patton's house? We can ride my motorcycle."

"Can I wear your riding jacket?" Virgil asked, snatching the chicken from his hands. "It looks good with my one skirt. You know the one. The black lace one? I like that jacket."

"Yeah, that works. What time should we head over?"

"We're going as soon as we're done dinner, but it seems like you want to play dress up." Roman said with no bite. Still, Virgil hissed at him before kissing Remus.

"I just need to finish this chapter, then I'll be ready." Virgil mumbled against his lips before pulling away. "Okay?"

"Yeah, that sounds good."

Virgil smiled before focusing on his textbook again. He was gone, not paying attention to anything around him. You could probably throw a bowling ball down next to him, and he wouldn't flinch. 

"Why the fuck did you ask if you two are already dating?" Logan asked, looking confused and annoyed. 

"We're not dating. We've never been on a date before. I'm waiting for Virgil to ask me out. I tried, but he had to raincheck, so I'm waiting for him to ask me out! We're going to be such a cute couple when it happens!" Remus said with a big smile. "So we'll be there! Gonna dress Virgil up pretty before we go."

"Aww! He'll be so cute! He looks so good in his lace skirt!" Patton cooed, seemingly done with his pouting. He had managed to eat six giant cookies in that time. "Also, you're not dating?! I caught you two undressing each other literally three weeks ago."

"Friends do that." 

"Friends don't have sex with each other."

"Friends with benefits!" Remus and Janus said at the same time before Remus continued. "Virgil isn't that, though. He's just a friend. Hopefully more one day."

Remus continued to feed Virgil as the other four watched in a mixture of confusion, exasperation, and a little bit of joy from Patton. Once the coffee cooled, Remus held the mug up for him. He didn't have to, and it was sickeningly sweet, but Remus enjoyed taking care of Virgil when he could. He took a couple bites of his own food as well, not forgetting about his own personal health. They decided to talk about what movie they'd be watching that night. Would it be a bad horror movie? A good one? A psychological or a gory one? They were planning it. Patton didn't take gore well. Roman liked ones with happy endings, so they couldn't do anything where everyone died. Remus and Janus didn't want a parody, finding them pointless. Remus brought up the good point that if people got scared, that means more cuddles, so they decided to go for a scary, not terribly graphic one. One that would make the more fearful of the group need to hide in someone's arms. By the time they picked on, their food was gone. Remus walked with the four to put their dishes on the conveyer belt that took the plates back to the kitchen before returning to the table and picking up Virgil to return to their room. "How many pages in the chapter left, storm cloud?"

"All done. Gonna study more tomorrow. I can walk now." Virgil made no movement to get off of Remus, instead tightening his grip. "You don't have to carry me."

Remus rubbed their noses together, still walking across campus holding him. They got to their dorm, Remus letting him down gently as he sat down on one of the beds. He watched as Virgil got changed, grinning. He rather liked days when Virgil presented more feminine. It was the only time he saw the other's legs. Plus, it happened not too often. Virgil grew up in a pretty small town with less open minded people. He never truly got misgendered via pronouns, still preferring he and him, but he was always called a man or his parents' son. He was taught dressing up anything less than masculine was bad, so he usually needed a small push from Remus to allow himself to do so. He had two skirts. His lace one that reached his lower thighs, and his long, maxi one. They were both black, both usually paired with a purple shirt. Virgil, however, took off his shirt and went to Remus' dresser. Pulling out a green tank top Remus owned, he tucked it into the skirt, twirling to show Remus.

"Cute, right?"

"We don't have to go to Patton's. We can just stay here. You could keep trying on my clothes."

Virgil crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow. "I was promised your leather riding jacket and a ride on your motorcycle. I am not about to let you take that away from me, sir."

Remus chuckled, standing and grabbing his jacket. He put it on Virgil, biting his nose gently. It made Virgil laugh, which, by default, made Remus happy. "Yes, I did promise that. I suppose you'll just have to wear my clothes again."

"I guess I will. Any excuse to wear your things. It makes you happy." Virgil winked before heading to the door. "Plus, you could always take them off of me."

Remus sputtered, not sure what to say. That was a flirt, right? That was definitely flirting. Remus finally got it together, grabbing a change of clothes for them both and following Virgil outside.

They'd talk about it later.

* * *

"Okay, I like scary things, but I'm terrified."

"I'm here. It's okay."

"Yeah, but what if we die because of the curse? What happens then?"

Remus let out a sigh, noting he should really not let Virgil watch scary things. He did well with monster movies. The Ritual was no issue for him. Despite that, he got scared of things with curses in them. Anything that wasn't a big monster killing people was bad and scary. Virgil was sitting on his lap, and Remus was rubbing his back for comfort. "Virgil, you need to get out of your clothes before we go to bed."

"And fucking expose myself for a serial killer to stab me?!"

Remus sat up, making Virgil go up with him. "You're just wearing shirts and boxers to bed. All you have to do is take off your skirt. I'm going to be without any clothes because I hate wearing clothes to bed. I'm more exposed. Take off your clothes, and I'll stand guard as I undress."

Virgil grumbled but still got up, staying in Remus' view as he took off the skirt and hung it up in the closet. Remus just threw his clothes to the ground. He got in the bed, holding out his arms which Virgil dove into. Remus let out a small 'oof' before closing his arms around the other. Virgil laid his head against his chest, letting out a sigh of relief. Remus ran his fingers through his hair, letting the other calm down from his fear of being murdered in the middle of the night. 

"If it helps, any creature that tries to attack us will be so confused by me being naked that they'll hesitate. When that happens, I will strangle them until you can run away. Then, the true battle will begin, and there will be only one winner."

"My hero." 

Remus made a small noise of content, rubbing his back. "Virgil?"

"Yes?"

"Would you be impressed if I knew math?"

"Would you be impressed if I could make a symmetrical vase?"

"What? No! I'm already impressed by you."

"Then you have your answer. Why are you asking?"

Remus closed his eyes, not wanting to answer. He just wanted Virgil to be so impressed he asked him out. Remus wanted him to make the first move for once.

"Remus, do you remember when you broke the little ring you made in your first ceramics course ever. Like, the one from when you were five? And I was freaking out because you just gave me a huge speech about how that was the first thing you ever made, and you told me it wasn't a big deal because you could always make another one? Then I tried to make you one as a replacement, but it was ugly and bent and couldn't be worn? I was freaking out because I couldn't make you something that you were passionate about? Remember?"

"Yes, why?"

"Math is very important to me, but it's not a big deal if you can't do it. It's not a deal breaker or life or death. Even if you try to explain it to me and do it wrong, the idea is all that matters. I love you for you. The funny, weird, artist. Not some mathematician. That's my job." Virgil kissed him before burying his face back in his chest.

"You're right."

"Of course I am. Now, you have to promise to make sure I won't be murdered in my sleep by the creepy thing from the movie?"

"I'll stay up all night if I have to, making sure you aren't harmed. I'm the only evil thing allowed in this room."

"Should I be scared of you?"

"Only if you want to be. Otherwise, no. Never be scared of me."

"Alright then."

* * *

Virgil's words of comfort meant nothing to Remus, who decided to use his one day of no classes to study math to impress Virgil. He went to Roman's dorm to do it, so it would be a huge surprise when he showed Virgil. He forgot which calculus Virgil was in, so he decided to just pick different sections in each calculus course and study them. Roman, who also had the day off because his professor called in sick, decided to help. They spent hours studying different graphs and rules of limits. The matrices and also how to properly use Green's Theorem when evaluating integrals and solving for area. He put his whole day into it, and Roman was sort of happy to help. He moped a bit when he realized they were skipping lunch for this, but Remus promised that they'd be able to go to dinner tonight, so it was fine.

Logan came over at one point since he did live with Roman. He scoffed a bit at the fact Remus was still trying to impress Virgil, but shut up once Roman gave him a look. He sat down and helped, explaining things that both of the art majors didn't get or tried to skip over. This wasn't his area of expertise, but he knew the basics of each topic. Remus was actually getting excited to learn math. He wish he knew Virgil in high school. He couldn't even get above a C because he didn't have the motivation to do any work for it. He got a one or two texts from Virgil asking where he was. He quickly responded that it was a surprise. That kept Virgil quiet for awhile so Remus could keep studying. Roman, finally, slammed the textbooks shut with the declaration he was hungry and wanted dinner. They walked to get food, not very surprised to see Janus and Virgil at the table already. Roman slid next to Janus, kissing him on the cheek. 

"Hello boy and non-binary toy!"

"Did you just fucking call me a toy?" Virgil hissed before seeing Remus, sitting up straight. "I missed you. I got locked out of our room. I had my swipe with me, but I left the key in our room."

"Why didn't you text me that?!" Remus put a hand over his heart. "What did you do all day?"

"I went to Janus' dorm. We watched a nature documentary together. I asked where you were so I could come borrow your key, but you responded it was a surprise, so I just gave up. Didn't want to ruin the surprise."

"You could have said you needed my key. I would've stopped to let you inside."

Virgil shrugged, eating the salad on his plate. Remus sat next to him with his wonderful concoction of yogurt, olives, and mustard, kissing his cheek. 

"Where's Pat?" Roman asked, looking around.

"Family dinner tonight. He said he'd join us tomorrow for brunch if we had time. I have all evening classes, so I'm free. You'd know if you joined us for lunch today." Janus stated, no anger in his words.

"I was helping Remus do his stupid shit." Roman grumbled before hiding his face. "Logan, defend me!"

"They're both idiots. Their project is going to be fruitless, and I'm sorry I even helped them." Logan looked exhausted, but that's expected when you help these twins. "There was no point in doing what they did. I'm glad I didn't skip lunch."

"Logan!"

"I'm merely stating the truth. None of what we did today will affect Virgil. There was nothing to change. Virgil, a question."

"Shoot." Virgil said, fully attentive now.

"When did you start dating Remus?"

"Last year, January twenty fifth."

"He's your boyfriend?"

"Yes? Why are you asking this? Did I do something wrong?"

"Remus, when did you start dating Virgil?"

Remus was frozen. They were dating?! When did that happen?! When did Virgil ask him out?

"Remus?" Virgil was looking at him now, confusion on his face. No, not just confusion. Confusion and worry. "Remus, why aren't you answering?"

"I--we--when--" Remus stuttered, looking at everyone. "What."

"Virgil," Logan continued, letting out a huge sigh. "How did you start dating?"

"He made me a little thing during one of his classes and asked me to kiss him. I did, and he asked me to go out for dinner. I said I couldn't that day, but we did the next day. We've been together since. I thought that was clear."

"No! No it wasn't clear! You never asked me out!" Remus was trying to keep his voice low, but it was a bit difficult.

"Remus, we had sex."

"People can have sex and not date."

"True, but we went to a diner together and shared a fucking milkshake. I call you babe. We made plans about living together in the future. I kiss you almost every minute and tell you I love you. How did you not know we were dating?"

"It was never formally asked!"

Virgil let out a huge groan before turning his whole body towards Remus. "Remus, will you be my boyfriend? Even though our one year anniversary is in three months, will you be my boyfriend?"

"Yes. I would like that."

"I can't fucking believe my boyfriend didn't know we were dating this whole time. I can't believe I was in a one-sided relationship."

"I still loved you! I just didn't know we were dating! I thought we were just very close friends who happened to act like a couple. It's a very easy mistake to make."

"Hi, my name is Virgil. I, from this point forward, identify as morosexual."

Remus gasped, looking straight at Virgil as he feigned being insulted. "Wounded, my dear. I am thoroughly wounded."

"So we didn't have to spend the past nine hours studying math? I didn't have to skip lunch?" Roman asked, frowning. "This was useless?"

"You studied math for me? Remus, we talked about this."

"Okay, but now I can properly convert cartesian coordinates to polar form. I now know that y is equal to r sin theta. I can also do the reverse. I wanted you to be so impressed that you asked me out."

"We were already--you're so fucking stupid sometimes. I love it so much, but I've been dating you without your knowledge for about a year now, so I don't know if I was actually dating you anymore. Was that a gross thing for me to do? Was I being creepy by dating you without your knowledge? Am I a bad dating partner? Am I creepy?"

"No! No! I was being stupid! I appreciated the couple things we did! I just wanted to hear you ask me out!"

"Patton's going to just love that he missed this." Janus murmured before sending a quick text updating him about what was happening. "I can't believe you two didn't know you were dating."

"I did. I knew I was dating him! I thought we were dating! Do we need a new anniversary? Is now our anniversary?"

"We have two anniversaries! One for when you started dating me, and one for when I started dating you! Double the celebration!" Remus began to kiss all over his face, honestly fucking relieved he had been dating Virgil this whole time. He was starting to lose hope. "I'm so happy."

"I'm glad you're happy. Now I have to learn how to properly make things to impress you." 

"You don't need to do that. You can get matching tattoos with me."

"Deal."

**Author's Note:**

> Author fact: my brother and I run a small math/science podcast where we do brief looks into topics. We did a lot of animals, but we're going to do more mathematical theorems soon  
> Also I color code my notes. I'm one of those people.
> 
> Second author fact: I hyper fixate on things sometimes, and one time I started studying math at 8am and looked up and it was 7pm, and I missed dinner.
> 
> Also I'm sorry I didn't go into depth about things. Math is more of a comfort for me so I nerd out about it by going 'there's always an answer to something. This is something I will always have an answer to.'  
> I do post about math on social media quite a bit. I write pretty notes and do pretty sigmas. Just know in parametric equations, letting rid of the parameters by setting your variable equal to t before plugging it in to the second equation. Also, if you have a p-series and p < 1, it diverges. If p > 1, it converges. If p = 1, you have the harmonic series (if it's 1/n^p) which tends to diverge unless it's an alternating series, in which case you do the alternating series test to solve for it by taking the absolute value and seeing if it converges absolutely, conditionally, or not. The harmonic series converges conditionally, as it does not converge when you take the absolute value, but it does when you keep the negative. 
> 
> Also: hamlet happens AKA the infinite monkey theorem. It's the probability of writing words if you've been given a keyboard with x amount of letters, and you were to type randomly (like monkeys at a typewriter). If you have a keyboard of 26 keys and were trying to type 'water' you'd have (1/26)^5. Each time you have a 1/26 chance, and you can repeat keys, so the number never shifts.


End file.
